Matt Fraser just the latest call-up to become anonymous Bruins playoff hero

Friday

May 9, 2014 at 2:34 AMMay 9, 2014 at 10:43 AM

Even Torey Krug couldn't do this in his first playoff game.

By Dan CagenDaily News staff

Even Torey Krug couldn't do this in his first playoff game.

Krug was the ‘who's that?’ postseason hero a season ago, popping onto the scene in his Stanley Cup playoff debut with a goal in a Game 1 overtime victory over the Rangers. It was the ‘Nightmare on Causeway Street’ for the Rangers, as Krug sliced up the Blueshirts for four goals and an assist in the series.

But an overtime goal? Even Krug has to step aside for Matt Fraser, who became just the sixth player in NHL history to end his first career playoff game with a sudden-death goal Thursday night when he greased his way to the spotlight of the Bruins’ 1-0 Game 4 victory at the Bell Centre.

The story is rather unbelievable. Fraser told reporters he was sitting at a Chipotle restaurant in Providence, R.I., on Wednesday afternoon, thinking about the Providence Bruins’ Calder Cup conference semifinal meeting with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, when he got the call from assistant general manager Don Sweeney to pack his bags and get on his way to Montreal.

From guacamole to the Bell Centre, in a little over 24 hours. The Stanley Cup playoffs are supposed to be wild and unpredictable, but that's pushing it.

That this story of prospects coming up at a time of the year that's supposed to be for veterans is repeating itself is a testament to the work being done at the AHL level, particularly by head coach Bruce Cassidy and assistant Kevin Dean.

Of the 19 Bruins who played Thursday, nine came through Providence, seven of them playing there since Cassidy joined the team as an assistant coach in 2008, and four since he became the head coach in 2011. The list includes Fraser, Krug, Matt Bartkowski, Johnny Boychuk, Brad Marchand, Kevan Miller and Tuukka Rask.

Krug was a far more polished player when he subbed in for the Bruins last postseason than when he joined the organization in 2012. The same is true of Fraser, who admitted he was an offense-only type when he was traded from the Stars to the Bruins last summer.

“I probably fell victim to starting my pro career in Dallas,” Fraser said in November. “I probably thought I don't need to play that way because that's the way I played in junior and you kind of get away from it a little bit. Now that I'm back in an organization that wants that sandpaper, wants that grit, you try to reinvent yourself a little bit, try to make yourself a little more multi-dimensional player and have an impact.”

Now look at Fraser's winner Thursday night. He went behind the net when Johnny Boychuk fired the puck from the point, and was still there as it pinballed around in front of Carey Price. Fraser fought off a box-out from strongman Douglas Murray, found the puck in a tangle of bodies and knocked it home.

That's an ugly goal, perhaps the kind Fraser wasn't scoring as a Texas Star. That's a young player adding to his game and developing, but it's also a coaching staff and management team preaching what is important, what needs to come for a player to reach his potential.

Fraser knew more was needed when he arrived, and his month-long stint in December and January (two goals and not many more shots in 14 games) showed he had to more to learn to even just be a gunner in the NHL. It’s one thing to have a great shot; it only matters if you can create the space to use it. See former Bruins prospect Matt Marquardt.

After returning to the AHL, Cassidy got to working with Fraser on finding ways to slice open a little more space, find the open areas to get off that shot. Although those efforts were short-circuited somewhat when a leg injury kept Fraser out of the lineup for a month, it seemed to be catching on, and he scored three goals in the five-game Calder Cup playoffs opening series with Springfield.

Adding to the intrigue is Fraser's status as the third of four players to contribute to the Bruins from the Tyler Seguin trade. As if we didn't already know, this was a deal that will be discussed, analyzed and given the winner-loser debate for many years to come, and Fraser added his own little element to the debate floor.

Nothing done by Loui Eriksson, Reilly Smith, Fraser or Joe Morrow will ever match the output that Seguin had this year (84 points in a Hart-like season). It's a classic four-quarters-for-a-dollar deal.

But now those quarters are adding up. In the Bruins' last three playoff wins, the game-winning goal has been scored by a former Star — Eriksson in Game 5 vs. Detroit, Smith in Game 2 vs. Montreal and now Fraser.

Fraser is an interesting case. He's 23 years old, a third-year pro and has shown the ability to put up enormous goal totals in the AHL (90 over three seasons, and more if not for a leg injury and lengthy NHL call-up this season).

We know how Krug used a ridiculous postseason to catapult himself to being one of the best rookie defensemen in the league this season and a game-changer on the Bruins' power play. Could Fraser do the same thing next season? That's obviously too early to tell, and we don't want to overreact to one fantastic finish to a game in which Fraser had all of two shots on net while playing on a line that dominated possession, but this will do wonders for his confidence.

For now, the Bruins will just take Fraser continuing down that path Krug laid so wonderfully last playoffs. Krug had a goal and an assist in his second playoff game. There is more to come for Cinderella.